Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

They are a treasure trove. The corresponding records up to the foundation of our State are publicly available in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland so it is difficult to understand why they are not publicly available here. I accept these are paper records and that they are fragile and need to be handled and digitised to enable access without compromising the data source. The type of information available in some of these records is of enormous genealogical value. They include tenant books and other means of establishing title that will be a very valuable resource. It is entirely appropriate to consider these in the context of the decade of centenaries because land played such an important part in our history. It would be a legacy for the future if the records up to 1922 were made available. I would argue that publication of records dating further back would be appropriate.

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